SMASH, a month in

So, looking at the SMASH pvp experiment a month into the project, I'm excited by it on a number of levels. It's also turning out to be a significant task, though perhaps that's my obsession/perfectionism speaking.

By my count, there are 13 of us IRL people involved in the project, and it seems to me that perhaps some introductions are appropriate - I overlooked it earlier. Here's who's playing:

• Eric: EdD student at Pepperdine and IT guy at TVCC. I have two toons in the project, Clairedelune, an 18.5 mage, and Shadowpeeg, a 12 priest. I want to play both in the BGs - Claire is great fun to play for all those frost spells that slow down flag runners. I'm looking forward to getting Shadow levelled up, because I want to see what a fear/shield/healer can do for a team. I also have several other toons in the guild - Peeg is a bank slave, and Slipperypeet is a 225 tailor. My main is Twinkleheal - a 54 holy healbot priest and 300 alchemist. Out of misplaced loyalty, Twink is still in a different guild, Night Shift.
  
• Ken: IT guy at TVCC. Ken is my WoW mentor, and he's got several toons of note in the guild - his main is Turbulence, a kickass 44 mage, and Corandra, his BG warlock. Turbulence is the guild enchanter - Ken and I both have been playing the AH hard to generate the funds to skill Turbulence up, with great success. Turbulence is now at 265 enchanting, which is crazy expensive to get to. He can now do Fiery Enchant to weapons, which will be mighty useful for us, and in a move of real fiscal committment, yesterday purchased the recipe for Crusader enchant - for 250g. Needless to say, having a 300 enchanter around in a few weeks is going to be a huge benefit to the guild. If you have any unneeded greens or blues, you can send them to Turbulence for DE as a donation to the cause - he already gave!
• Kyle: Ken's brother, who lives in the Denver area. He's got two toons in SMASH. His main is Deliana, a 44 Pally, and Turbulent (oh, that's not confusing), a BG hunter. I'm not sure what level Turbulent is at - Kyle has to watch his play time, so I almost always see him Sunday morning before his wife is awake. Good, good paladin to run with, and I believe Kyle, like Ken, played a hordie to 60 on a different server.
• Scott: IT guy at TVCC. Scott has too many toons to count. His main is a 45ish Druid, Cainne, and his BG toon is Morlo, a 16ish rogue. Morlo's ready to run through the Deadmines for his Westfall Tunic. I've got my eye on a Lifestealing enchant for one of Morlo's blades, but that's a 120g cost, so I'm building my funds a bit more before we do that. We also continue to run Shadowfang Keep in hope that an Assassin's Blade drops (only a 3% drop) for Morlo.
• Adam: Scott's son. Like Scott, Adam plays a small army of characters. His main is a 45ish hunter, Bountyhunter. I don't know the name of Adam's BG toon, but do know it's a warlock. Adam is mighty knowledgeable about WoW - a voracious reader and a good player.
• Laura: An IT gal at TVCC. Another serial player, I think that her main is Sarbaris, a warrior in the 30s. Her BG toon is Tristar, a 16 warrior. Laura's the quiet but deadly type - she knows the AH, and she knows the out of the way places of WoW. I know she's been making good money skinning and leatherworking.
• Terry: An IT gal at TVCC. Terry is Laura's partner in crime, in WoW and IRL. I'm not sure Terry's going to pvp with us or not, but she's in the guild, and I just love it when she and Laura go out as Flotsam and Jetsam (no joke, that's their alt names.) Apparently people stop and give them money when they see the two of them out - the power of their naming cleverness is that great.
  
• Randon: An IT guy at TVCC. Randon's main is Fragzilla, a 30s-ish hunter. I'm not sure what the name of his BG toon is, but I know it's a hunter. Randon's got one major issue - he's playing on his brother's account, which means his play time is a little more limited... We're working on him to get his own account, through public shaming...
• James: EdD student at Pepperdine and my BFF from our master's program. James is a dwarf warrior to the soul, both through his main, Viamedia (60), and Bobnotbob, (17). His toons may not be subtle, but the driving force behind them is. An AH master.
• Linda: The program director for the EdD program at Pepperdine, and fearless leader for James and me. A small army of toons surround her (true in RL as well) - Hallgrima is her 60 'lock, Saami is a hunter, and Meranda is her 18.5 warlock. I know Hallgrima is an enchanter in the 240s.
• Don: Linda's husband, and pvp enthusiast. Two toons - Clivenaar, who's in the 20-29 bracket (I think), and Flaiginbar, a 19 pally who's been paving the way for us. I hear he's really ripping it up. Flaiginbar is by far the most advanced in the twinking process - he's got a Crusader enchant on his weapon, and is gradually buffing other parts of his gear. I think we're getting close to the point where only Librams will be remaining, and I don't yet understand the process of procuring and installing libram buffs.
  
• Sarah: Linda and Don's daughter. Sarah's got a host of toons - I think her main is still Akmalla, but I'm not sure. As I understand it, Sarah's the queen of social play - you want chat, (and kewl) you want Sarah. I'm not sure what Sarah's BG toon is, or her level of commitment to the project, but no matter, when she joins, she'll be formidable.
• Zak: An IT student worker at TVCC. He's got a 60 shadow priest on Perrnolde. I believe Zak will be joining us, but I'm not sure what he's intending to play yet.

So that's the group. Now on to where we are - these are the milestones we've hit:

• Flaiginbar is through all of the levelling process (DM and Seal of Wrynn), and is actively playing in WSG with success. He may need some high level enchants.
  
• Clairedelune is through DM and the Seal of Wrynn, and I've been into WSG with her enough to see promise. She needs to hit 19 to get her final gear on, and then we need to do enchants on her gear.
• Meranda is through DM, but not the Seal of Wrynn (I think). Gear and enchants yet to come.
• Tristar is through DM, but not the Seal of Wrynn. Gear and enchants yet to come.
• Bobnotbob is through DM, but not the Seal of Wrynn. Gear and enchants yet to come.
• Morlo is ready for DM.
• Corandra, Turbulent, and Shadowpeeg are not ready for DM yet.
• All other toons are nascent at best.

So what's ahead of us? Here's what I see on the checklist:

• A handful of DM runs.
• A handful of Stockades runs to kill Basil Threadd.
• A handful of helping finish the Wrynn quest (you have to kill several 30s to wrap it up).
• Helping Turbulence get to 300 enchanting. I'd like to get him all of the +Sta, +Int and +AGI buff available, and though it will be ridiculously expensive, the ability to do a Lifestealing enchant.
  
• For the AH players, any reasonable price (less than 50g) Sentry Cloak shouldn't be passed up. I have a boatload of gear in Shadowpeeg's bank - if you're ready to gear up, let me know and we'll start disbursing.
  
• Continued SFK and BFD runs for good stuff.

I know this all reads as work, but it's still a game for me. It's just a game with a lot of preparation, which I find fun. Game within a game, and all that. Keep on SMASHing!